Sales Tax & VAT Calculator

Add tax to a price or take it back out

Sales Tax & VAT Calculator does two jobs. Add tax starts from a price before tax and gives you the tax and the total. Remove tax starts from a price that already includes tax and splits it into the price before tax and the tax inside it.

You type the rate yourself, with decimals if you need them, such as 8.875. There are no built-in country or state rates, because rates change and often depend on the product. The answer updates as you type, and a “How it’s worked out” line shows the sum for your numbers. Everything is calculated in your browser.

How to add or remove sales tax or VAT

1. Choose Add tax if your price doesn’t include tax yet, or Remove tax if it does.
2. Type the price as a plain number, without a currency symbol.
3. Type the tax rate as a percentage, for example 20 for 20% VAT or 8.875 for a combined state and city sales tax. The rate box is shared by both tabs.
4. Read the price before tax, the tax and the price including tax. The highlighted box is the one you asked for.

Reading the results and the working

• Price before tax: also called the net price or the price excluding tax.
• Tax: the tax amount, labelled with the rate you used.
• Price including tax: the gross price — what a customer pays.
• How it’s worked out: the sum for your inputs, such as “Tax = 100.00 × 20% = 20.00”. In Remove tax it also shows what the common shortcut would have given, and why it’s wrong.
• Rounding: prices you type are rounded to the nearest cent, and amounts are shown to 2 decimal places. One amount is rounded (halves up) and the other is the difference, so the price before tax plus the tax always equals the total exactly.

Who uses a tax calculator

• Shoppers: see a price after sales tax, or the VAT in a receipt.
• Freelancers and small businesses: add VAT or GST to a quote, or split a tax-inclusive fee into net and tax for your records.
• Sale prices: work out the discount first with the Discount Calculator, then add tax to the sale price here.
• Foreign prices: convert the amount with the Currency Converter first if it’s in another currency.

Taking tax out of a price correctly

Why you divide instead of subtracting the rate

Tax is charged on the price before tax. With 20% VAT, a net price of 100 gets 20 added, making 120. To go back, you need the number that 120 is 120% of, which is 120 ÷ 1.2 = 100.

Taking 20% off 120 gives 96, which is too low: 20% of 120 is 24, but the tax in that price was only 20. The calculator shows the correct division next to the shortcut for your numbers.

VAT, GST and sales tax

VAT (value added tax) and GST (goods and services tax) are usually already included in shop prices, so you often need Remove tax to see the tax in a receipt. US-style sales tax is normally added at the till, so Add tax is the usual direction there. The sum is the same either way; only the name and where it’s shown differ.

Rates differ by country, state, county or city and often by product, and they change. Rounding rules differ too — some places round the tax on each invoice line, others on the invoice total — so totals can differ by a cent or two. Check the official rate and rules for where the sale happens.

Sales Tax & VAT Calculator: common questions